BFA won’t fund clubs

Botswana Football Association ( BFA) will not offer direct funding to the local premier league and first division league teams in future due to budget constraints.

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The sentiments were shared by the Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Phillip Makgalemele when answering a question in Parliament this week.

Makgalemele said Government is disbursing funds to BFA for administrative duties of the organisation and not for it to pass the funds to the teams to cover their operational costs.

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He said the support grants from 2015 stood at P6 million and P5.4 million in 2016 and 17 respectively. This year the grant stands at P5.2 million.

“These funds are expended on employees’ salaries, operational costs of the Association and National Teams’ expenses which include participation in Regional and International Competitions and Welfare expenses,’’ he said.He cited the decline in budget from time to time was a result of constraints that the government is facing.

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Makgalemele pointed out that to support local teams in the premier league, the clubs are given funds from the sponsorship funds and television rights to finance expenses related to among other things operational costs.

This, however, seems not to be adequate as most of the time local clubs complain of delayed monthly grants payment by the Botswana Premier League which cripples theirefforts of covering their running costs. Most teams have no direct sponsors and depend mostly on grants.

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He said it is important for the clubs to find other means of getting funds through looking for sponsors to boost their financial scopes.

He said BFA disburses P30, 000 to each of the seventeen (17) regions per football season under its scope, adding that the funds are used to support teams in those regions.

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BFA became a subject of discussion in the Nationally Assembly following a question by Gaborone North MP Haskins Nkaigwa who had asked the Minister responsible for sport to state how much has been budgeted annually as support grant to BFA from 2015 to date and how the funds were spent.

Nkaigwa enquired about what was being done to support teams in the Premier league and others in the lower leagues.